Drogs target Ryan picks Shelbourne
DROGHEDA United boss Tim Clancy has lost out in his pursuit of midfield target Ryan Brennan after the Rathmullen native opted to sign for the Boynesiders’ First Division rivals Shelbourne.
Ryan, the 27-year-old younger sibling of current Drogs player Sean Brennan, was virtually an ever-present for St Patrick’s Athletic in the top flight last season but has dropped down a division to join one of the likely title contenders. Clancy hinted that he was frustrated by the player’s decision.
Speaking to the Drogheda Independent on Monday afternoon, Clancy said: ‘I spoke to Ryan and had a chat with him, and it’s his home-town club, but he’s gone to Shelbourne and we’ll see how that goes.
‘I’m not sure what his thought process is, but good luck to him. I don’t think it was a better deal financially [to go to Shelbourne]. They offered a bit more, but when you add up the travelling to Dublin four days a week he is probably worse off.
‘I played with Ryan at Bray Wanderers for 18 months, he played 34 times for Pat’s this year and he’s a very good footballer, but there’s no point talking about it now.’
Nevertheless, with Shelbourne having also signed St Pat’s winger Conan Byrne and Bohemians pair Oscar Brennan and Dan Byrne in recent weeks, they are already beginning to look like one of the main challengers for promotion in 2019 and Clancy agreed.
‘I would imagine so,’ he responded when it was suggested that Shels could mount a serious challenge.
‘We were a better team than them last season [Drogheda beat Shels in the first match in the play-offs], but they’ve quite an experienced team now. They’ve a big budget and they’ve made a few big signings and all the pressure will be on them.
‘But Galway did the same last year and thought they’d win the league and they ended up finishing sixth, and we’re not going to throw double money around to sign a player. On paper it might look good, but it doesn’t always work out.
‘We had a great dressing room last year and pay disparity wasn’t all loaded into one or two players. It was fairly evenly spread.
‘The most important thing is to get the balance right and get the right players in with the right attitude.
‘We’ve held onto everyone we wanted, bar Ciaran Kelly, and we will strengthen as well.’
Clancy had no fresh information about imminent signings yesterday and it’s been a number of weeks since the announcement that Shelbourne pair Cian Kavanagh and James Brown were joining the Drogs - the only two new faces to date.
‘I’m still trying to get players in, but it’s that time of the year when they are sitting there and stalling. They want to see if there’s something better out there and it’s difficult to get things over the line. A lot of them want to play Premier Division football, but they could be playing 20 or 30 games in the First Division rather than going to the Premier and playing 10 or 15 games off the bench.
‘We’ve made a couple of good offers and hopefully the players will sign, but if they don’t we will go elsewhere.’
Meanwhile, Drogheda United have a special early bird offer on season ticket sales, running until Christmas Eve. Prices for both the Cross Lanes end and the main stand are €150 (concessions €100), a family season ticket is priced at €250 and there’s a new season ticket for 13 to 18-year-olds costing €50. After Christmas Eve these prices will be €160, €110, €175, €300 and €60 respectively.